Fire-control system for guns



July` 12 1927.

J. C. KARNES FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM PoR GUNS D 5 1 E .Fvil.j :1.-: n Y. w... a K .1

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0 @www latenited July 12, 119,27*.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

uns c. miras, or BUFFALO, NEW Yoan rma-connor.. s'Ys'rnn Foa Guns.

Application led february 28, 1927. Serial No. 171,858.

(Gaurain man rim cr or innen 3,1883; 22 sur. L. can.)

The invention described herein ma be used by the Government, or an ofits o cers or employees in rosecution o work for the 1.0 moving aerial targets it is, necessary in order to insure a reasonable degreeof accuracy that the dead time of maneuver be reduced` to a minimum. Accordingly I have shown. in Patent No; 1,555,061, mechanism for simultaneously set- .tin the fuse of a rojectile within a gun an firing the round? However in order that the projectile will be exploded at the predicted future sition ,20 for which the fuse range was calcu ated it is essential that the gun ybe correctly laid in azimuth and elevation at the instant of firing.

The principal obect of this inventionu then is to synchronize the azimuth, elevation, fuse setting and firing mechanisms.

With foregoing and other objects in view,

my invention resides Vin the novel arrangement and combination of arts and in the .3 details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood'that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without'departing 36 from the spirit' of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a gun `showing the application of the fire control system; v

Fig. 2 is more or less vdiagrammatic view illustrating the synchronization of the various mechanisms; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fi 1. Reerring to the drawings by numeralsof reference:`

There is shown in Fig. 1 a typical antiaircraft gun consisting of a top carriage .5

rotatable on the base 6 by means ofa traversing mechanism 7 A cradle 8 trunnioned in i the top carriage and mounting the gun barrel 9 is provided with aV segmental. rack 10 cngageable by the elevating mechanism 11.

A fuse setting mechanism 12 arranged to set the fuse of a round loaded in the gun, as described in the patent previously referred to` is mounted on the cradle. but in certain types of guns it may be mounted on the barrel itself. For convenience of illustration all of these mechanisms are shown on the same side of the gun, although in actual practice the traversing mechanism would be on the opposite side.

Referring to the diagrammatic view of Fig. 2 the means for indicating the amount of movement to be imparted to the traversing, elevating,'and fuse setting mechanisms are identical and each consist of a pair of concentric wheels, the outer wheel 13 geared to one of the mechanisms 7, 11, and 12 at the gun and the inner wheel 14 under remote control receiving its movement direct from the computing instrument at the battery commanders station and displaceable in anramount proportional to the desired function of either lateral detiection correction, vertical deflection correction or fuse reading. Each of the wheels is provided with an arrow or pointer 15 and when the outer wheel is moved to position its arrow in alnement with the arrow on the inner wheel, vthe function required to lay the gun or set thefuse will be applied to the corresponding mechanism. Both the outer and inner wheels carry insulated contact elements 13- and 14j* arranged to be in engagement when the arrows register. of the azimuth, elevation, and fuse setter mechanisms and also an insulated pin 16 in the breech block which contacts with the rimer of the round when the breech block 1s closed are connectedin circuit by the lead wires 17-17. In this way the round can only be fired when all data which enters into the determination Aof the predicted future position of the target is correctly Iappliedr The contact elements n mames 1. In a gun including anv electrically opeated firing device, means for traiversing erated firing device, means for traversing the gun, means for elevating the gun, means the gun, means for elevating the gun, means for setting the fuse of a round within the for setting the fuse of a' round within the gun,` anindex associated with each of said l5 gun, an index associated with each of said means, a member associated with each index means,a member associated with each index `and movable proportionate to data to be and movable proportionate tol data to be applied, and electrical connections establishapplied, electrical connections establishinga ing a circuit between the firing device, and circuit between the firingdevice, the indexes the indexes and the members.

i0 and the members and a switch in said circuit.

`2. In a gun including an electrically op- JAMES C. KARNES. 

